Today, Michigan Senate passed SB50 and the Bill now moves to the House. SB50 has recently been combined with HB4284 and HB 4299 which were geared towards changes for ATV users. SB50 greatly helps our sport by prohibiting the DNR from requiring group permits for group ORV riding on department owned lands (i.e. frozen water, state trails & routes, forest roads, etc). Note that events that trigger a permit will still be required to request this permit from the DNR. Such examples are events that charge for the event (i.e. SnoFari, SnoBlind, etc).

No it applies to ORVs (ATV's, Fullsize, etc). The House Bills that were combined bring in some additional language that helps the ATV users. Things such as opening a limited portion of state highways to connect county roads. This helps the ORV riders who can drive on some of the county roads as part of PA280.

The department shall not require a permit under this partmerely for organized group recreational orv riding on department lands, or for an orv event on the frozen surface of public waters, if conducted in compliance with applicable statutes, rules, and orders. Within 90 days after the effective date of the amendatory act from the 2013-2014 legislative session that added this subsection, the department shall develop and establish, in consultation with representatives of the Michigan snowmobile and trails advisory committee and other interested parties, policy criteria for determining circumstances under which notice to the department or a permit is required for orv events on department lands.

The text highlighted in red shows that if there are other circumstances that require approval then that that would override this. I was informed that there is a rule in place today that if there is an event to charge to ridge on department lands that it then triggers a permit to be requested. That is why an event like SnoFari would still have to go through the permit process. In the case of SnoFari they also get permission to use parts of the lands that may not be open to the public otherwise.

This was previously set at a threshold of 25 people in a group would require a permit. A club or group of guys could quickly reach that 25 people very quickly with only a few rigs. If this takes affect this would now allow you to be with as many other people as you would like on department lands without needing a permit as long as it was not a "paid" event.